April 2003 chaplain's corner

The Chaplain's Corner is a monthly message for chaplains.

Chaplain's Corner - April, 2003

Rev. Rich Hines

This message is primarily for those who call on the name of Jesus Christ as their own Lord and Savior, and are serving as correctional or rescue mission chaplains within the United States.

This month, when we especially remember and celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, I want to address a particular problem that all correctional facilities and the chaplains who serve them face. It's a worldwide problem, but it's generally magnified in correctional facilities. It's the problem of racial prejudice. The word of God calls it sin (James 2:9).

The connection to Christ's resurrection is that only in the Resurrected One are all men truly seen as equal. Only in His resurrection power and with His love can this sinful attitude of racism be overcome.

I did deal in part with this problem previously (see archives from March, 2001). That was in a message that dealt more specifically with the issue of homosexuality. Those who view homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle are advocates of the idea that if evangelicals say that God is opposed to homosexual behavior, they are racial bigots! They think this way because they push the unbiblical idea that homosexuals are born that way, just like a person is born with certain racial features or with a certain color of skin. In one sense, nothing could be more of an insult and a slap in the face, to those who have been the real victims of racial prejudice.

There are many reasons in all societies, and especially in the inmate culture that this sin is so prevalent. They are all linked to the unregenerate heart of lost humanity. An absence of God's kind of love, hatred - especially with its inability to forgive, a lack of power to overcome fleshly urges, pride and fear are five contributing factors that seem to reign supreme in inmate culture. Add to that the overcrowding and daily stress that most jails and prisons now have, and you've got a human powder keg.

The correctional authorities are officially against prejudicial behavior because of their concern for security. If racial hatred foments, riots occur. Officially they also must be against racism because politics and public funding demand that stance. But correctional authorities don't seem to be seriously concerned with curbing the sinful attitudes that feed racial prejudice. When and if these authorities are concerned about the true causes of racism, they cannot address them other than by making rules. This is because of the pressure to be politically correct, which means they aren't allowed to think the Bible has the only real answers to sin (they cannot officially support Christian teaching). This means in dealing with this issue, it really is up to you chaplains who know the Lord and know His word, to tactfully step in and teach His truth.

The Bible teaches that in Christ alone, the things that encourage racial prejudice are displaced by God's presence in the believer's life. Therefore, I want to help you to deal with this issue by briefly looking at seven (7) New Testament passages. They are Scriptures you may have already used to teach inmates. In that case, it's always good to compare what you've taught with someone else.

(Note: all Bible quotations are taken from the New King James Version (NKJV) published by Thoms Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN)

(1) Galatians 3:26-29 The subject of the context is that of being saved by faith, not by the works of the law - so religious pride and superiority feelings are being nullified.

26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

The phrase 'baptized into Christ' here is primarily a reference to the Holy Spirit's work of placing a believer into a real union with Jesus Christ. In demonstration of that reality, believer's water baptism pictures the real process, but it is not a substitute for it. So, everyone that has been truly placed into a forever union with Christ, has put on a new attire - Jesus Christ. He is who they now represent, not the culture they came from. Hence, the Apostle continues:

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (believers in Christ are Abraham's true spiritual descendants)

In 49 AD when this letter to the Galatians was written, this statement in verse 28 must have hit like a bombshell!

The religiously proud Jews of the first century saw themselves as superior to Gentiles (the Greek speaking peoples). An ancient rabbinic prayer even said, 'God, I thank you that I was not born a Gentile, a dog, or a woma.'

The point in this passage in Galatians 3, is that whatever a person was before they came to faith in Christ, doesn't matter spiritually. What they were racially, or according societal standing, or sexually, has absolutely no bearing on there standing before God now. All in Christ are the same now - all are equal inheritors of His blessings.

(2) Colossians 3:4,10,11 The subject of the context here is newness in Christ.

4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you (plural) also will appear with Him in glory ....

This looks forward to the new glorified bodies that all true believers will one day receive. In the meantime the believers are according to verse 10, being:

10 .....renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, (God)

11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

In the first century a fellowship of people that was made up of Jews, educated Greeks, uneducated tribal people who spoke 'jibber-jabber' (barbarians), former violent raiders (Scythians), slaves, and free men, was unthinkable.

Scythians were considered by ancient society to be the worst of the barbarians. Heroditus, a Greek historian said: 'They drank the blood of the first enemy killed in battle, and made napkins of the scalps, and drinking bowls of the skulls of the slain. They had the most filthy habits and never washed with water.' Josephus, the Jewish historian added, 'the Scythians delight in murdering people and are little better than wild beasts.' A record of the greatest imaginable insult of the time was when one man called another: 'more filthy than any Scythian!'

In Christ alone, all of what we were before we had Him is done away with. Whether we were like a Scythian, or in man's estimation a high-born, noble religious person, in Christ we are brand new, with a new identity. Part of our newness is a new culture of exalting and magnifying Christ - because He is God. The Scriptures also tell us God is love. Since Jesus is fully God, He is the essence of love. As biblically defined 'Christians,' we don't see the new person in Christ's former life - we see them from Christ's viewpoint of love. We see His presence in their lives, and we love Him in them.

(3) Revelation 5:8-10 The context is showing who will be in heaven praising Jesus Christ. Hence, we see who God has saved, and is going to save.

Verse 8 speaks of a 'scroll' the Apostle John saw in a vision that he was given (compare Rev. 5:1-7). It was a scroll written on both sides and it had seven sections. Each section of the scroll had a seal, which would have to be broken in order to read that section.

Only the opener of this seven sealed scroll had the right to execute the judgements that will take back the earth for God. The only One who can do this is Jesus. When He does this, both high holy angels called 'living creatures' and the whole of the saved church in heaven, represented by 'twenty-four (24) elders,' worship and praise Him.

Note it in the text:

8 Now when He (Jesus) had taken the scroll, the four living creatures (probably Cherubim) and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

9 And they (the saved humans) sang a new song, saying: 'You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed (purchased) us to God by Your blood out of every TRIBE and TONGUE and PEOPLE and NATION,

10 and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.'

In verse 9, what I want to draw your attention to, and have you draw inmates attention to, is that God has made and shown us ahead of time, saints and co-inheritors of the kingdom, saved people - out of every TRIBE, and TONGUE, and PEOPLE and NATION.

Each one of those four words gets bigger as they are mentioned in the text. The word for TRIBE literally means 'a clan.' It refers to a group of people living in close proximity, like a tribal village. In modern American slang it's the 'hood,' a neighborhood. The next word is a bit larger, a TONGUE. This refers to a group of people that speak a dialect of a language, they have a special way of talking, like a language with a particular accent. The next word is PEOPLE. This is a people group that have a distinct identity. Like a general language group, albeit with different accents - like Spanish speakers. The last word, NATION is really the word for RACE.

So some from every color of people, every identity of people, every sub-identity of people and dialect and slang speech group, and even every clan or neighborhood of people, are going to be redeemed and saved and made to reign with Jesus on earth! Wow! Therefore, teach the believing inmates that when they see someone of a different tribe (or gang affiliation), another tongue, another people group, or another race, potentially they could be seeing someone who is going to be one with then in heaven, in Christ, forever. And those people are to be loved because they are brethren.

And speaking of loving the brethren, I want you to look at three passages from 1 John. They show that God's supernatural love in the life of a saved person displaces man's hate. These three passages speak about the evidence of four synonymous things: true salvation, eternal life, God's presence, and the new birth.

(4) I John 3:14?19

14 We know that we have passed from death to life, (spiritual death to eternal life) because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides (remains) in death.

15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

This is speaking about believers responsibility to love with Christ's sacrificial love, those He redeemed. Christians are to sacrificially love their spiritual brethren of any different race, or people group, or slang or language, or tribe. To illustrate this the text goes a bit further in verse 17:

17 But whoever has this world's good, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart (literally 'his guts,' for that was where the first century mind identified the seat of the emotions) from him, how does the love of God abide in him? (The obvious answer is, it doesn't. Therefore that person's salvation is questionable).

18 My little children, (literally, 'born ones'- a reference to being born of God) let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

Regenerated persons are not just to say they love someone, they are to show it in deeds.

19 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him (God).

If we have in us that God given, supernatural love, which sacrificially loves those that are unlovely to our natural feelings and to the group or culture we grew up in, we then have assurance that He really is in our life, that we are 'of the truth.'

(5) I John 4:7?12

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is (perfect tense - has been) born of God and knows God.

8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

9 In this the love of God was manifested (made evident) toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.

10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Just like God first loved each person He saved, before they ever knew Him, those that have been born of God are to sacrificially love others first. This love must be shown and initiated by the believer.

12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.

In other words, by loving the brethren we show the God of love to others. Remember, Jesus said: 'By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another' (John 13:35)

(6) I John 4:20 - 5:2

20 If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, (at the same time he claims to love God) he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is (perfect tense - has been) born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot (God who gave that birth) also loves him who is (again, has been) begotten of Him.

2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.

The love for the brother or sister in Christ is based on the common new birth that all saved people share. In John 14:21,23,24 loving God is defined by Jesus in terms of obedience to His commandments. Remember His commandment is to love the brethren, see 1 John 4:21 and John 13:34.

(7) James 2:1-13 This is the longest New Testament passage on the subject of prejudice. The subject of the larger context is living out the Christian faith and showing Christ's love.

The subject of the passage is 'partiality,' which literally means having special respect for someone's appearance, or face. Partiality is the flip side of prejudice. It's showing one preferential treatment simply because of their appearance, or face.

To show one special preferential favoritism because of their outward appearance means at the same time you are going to be showing someone else disfavor or prejudice. In this passage the partiality is toward the rich and the prejudice is toward the poor. By application we can substitute racial favoritism and prejudice, which is the correctional problem we >re addressing.

1 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality

Literally this says: 'do not be holding the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Glory' i.e. God, while at the same time holding on to partiality. A person cannot be claiming to have the faith that Jesus is God and continue to hold onto prejudiced thoughts about someone different. Then, in verse 2- 4 an example of what is forbidden by God is given.

2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes,

3 and you pay attention (special attention) to the one wearing the fine clothes (in the ancient world clothes showed wealth even more than in our society today) and say to him, 'You sit here in a good place,' and say to the poor man, 'You stand there,' or 'Sit here at my footstool,' (a way of saying you are less than I am)

4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with EVIL THOUGHTS?

Chaplain, I want to stress something here in verse 4, and ask you to teach it to the inmates. Whenever they show favoritism toward one race and disfavor or prejudice toward another, they have become a judge with an evil thought. This word EVIL, in verse 4 doesn't mean just a bad thing, rather it means MALIGNANTLY EVIL. It is an evil that will spread like a cancer. When someone demonstrates racial prejudice, there is something in others around that observe it that normally causes them to grab hold of it, so that it spreads like an infectious disease to them. It's not just a evil thing for the moment, rather it always spreads the evil so that it is repeated down the line.

The text in James 2 continues -

5 Listen, my beloved brethren: has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those that love Him?

6 But you have dishonored (been prejudiced against) the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?

7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? (They blasphemed the name of Christ).

It's interesting, these first century Jewish professing believers in Christ were showing favoritism to those who were their very spiritual enemies, the unsaved who blasphemed the very name of Christ. Verse 6 states the fact that they were in the practice of disfavoring the poor. Since it is God's way to save a greater portion of the materially poor than materially rich, (compare 1 Cor. 1:26-29) the implication is that they were showing disfavor and prejudice against some that were highly likely to be God's own elect - those that would eventually hear and believe the gospel.

Similarly, relating to racial prejudice, I bear record that with my own ears, I heard a white man who was a professing Christian believer, even a Bible teacher, say 'I would rather my daughter marry an unsaved white man than a saved black man!' I was shocked. What an evil, wrong, unloving, unbiblical heart that exposes! He was a church goer, but was he saved? Continuing, the text in James says:

8 If you really fulfill the royal law (King Jesus' law) according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' you do well;

9 but IF YOU SHOW PARTIALITY, YOU COMMIT SIN (remember partiality is the other side of prejudice) and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.

A person cannot say, yes, I follow other biblical principles, but I just choose to hold onto my racial prejudices.

It's like they've broken all of God's law. Note it:

11 For He who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder.' Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, (remember, 1 John 3:15 teaches if one hates he is a murderer) you have become a transgressor of the law.

12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.

13 For judgement is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgement.

Evangelism can occur while dealing with this serious correctional problem. Here's why - any inmate (or even any person) claiming to be a Christian believer who at the same time continues to have and express feelings of racial prejudice, is either NOT TRULY SAVED or is struggling against the clear leading of the Holy Spirit within his own heart. The presence of prejudice in any should be a serious warning to them to do a heart check and see if Jesus is truly there, if He is in fact their own Savior and Lord.

It's not even a matter of them not having read some of the passages we have examined, because the Holy Spirit subjectively teaches all those He has brought to salvation to love others He has brought to salvation. 1 Thessalonians 4:9 (written to new Christians about five months after they were saved) says: 'concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are constantly being taught (present tense verb) by God to (continually) love (present tense verb) one another; '.

I encourage you correctional chaplains to challenge inmates and staff on this issue regularly. They cannot be saved and participate in racial hatred in thought or deed. May God bless you all as you stand faithful for God's truth.

Rev. Rich Hines

Minister To Chaplains - Aurora Ministries